GOP congressman lost malpractice suits

The extreme right has bellyached for years about what they call an epidemic of frivolous medical malpractice suits - which they use as an excuse for tort "reform" to limit patients' rights to sue over poor care. This strain of tort "reform" - which hurts patients - seems to be the only item in the GOP's health care arsenal.

The Republicans chose Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-Louisiana) to give the GOP response to Obama's health care speech. They thought Boustany would be perfect, because he's one of the few doctors among congressional Republicans.

But he's a rather odd character. Boustany was named Conservative Fool Of The Day for 1/13/06 because he told a town hall meeting that the minimum wage should be abolished - right after he received a huge congressional pay raise.

We might as well call him Lord Charles. Boustany once spent almost $70,000 trying to buy a British title of nobility, just so he could put "Lord" before his name. But the seller of these titles turned out to be running a scam - which Boustany fell for.

Boustany's response to Obama's speech was as devoid of ideas as one would expect. It was nothing but the same GOP party line that's been rehashed and regurgitated for 20 years.

Maybe Boustany supports tort "reform" because he's been a defendant in at least 3 malpractice suits himself - all 3 of which resulted in awards for the plaintiffs. In one case, Louisiana's Medical Review Panel found Boustany's actions to be "below the acceptable standard of care" and awarded the plaintiff $1,200,000. In another, the patient received $600,000. In the remaining suit, an unspecified sum was paid out following mediation.

Charles Boustany's followers are somehow blaming Obama for these lawsuits, even though Obama had nothing to do with them, and the suits were settled before Obama took office.

Lord Charles is the Republicans' best choice for a nationally televised speech on health care?

(Source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0909/Boustanys_malpractice_history.html)